Various navigation systems are currently employed by aircraft for the purpose of ascertaining the position of the aircraft, or of other aircraft of landmarks relative to the aircraft. These systems typically produce two numbers to fix a participant's geodetic location on the ground plane--north and east, or range and bearing (azimuth). Systems such as TACAN, and Inertial Navigation System (INS), and Trade Air Speed (TAS)/Compass Systems are currently available and provide geodetic data in one or both of the above coordinate systems from which the relative position of two participants can be determined. However, the position data which can be shared by these systems is not accurate enough for relative navigation. For example, the INS error is measured in miles.
Furthermore, existing on-board relative navigation systems require more than two participants or necessitate the use of an angle-sensor to obtain bearing information, or both.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an on-board relative navigation system which can be used in connection with the existing INS, Doppler, or TAS velocity sensors to provide accurate relative position data between two or more participants with increased precision.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a relative navigation system which provides range and azimuth coordinates without the use of an angle-sensor.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which automatically computes the azimuth coordinate of the relative position between two participants from range and velocity information shared by those participants.